good idea or overkill?

Okay, so my original choice academic reccomender is having some serious personal problems and can't write me a letter (good thing I asked early!) So I will be asking my program director, who knows me very well and knows what classes I took, the awards I've won, how I compare to the other students (she can say that my 3.6 is actually top 10%!) and that I took challenging courses, but she won't be able to say, that my essay on X was marvelous (because she obviously won't know).

So since my academic reccomendation won't be "ideal" in that last sense, I'm going to get a work refrence (which will be good) and a volunteering refrence (which should be reasonable, but my volunteer work has been really important to me, and they can say I go above and beyond the normal volunteer requirements).

So is 3 too many? does it seem scattered or even and thought through? Should I drop one? Any suggestions?

3 definitely sounds reasonable, not at all overkill. Your writers are well distributed, but be sure you read the suggestions/requirements for each individual application. I found it surprising when applying to schools that some ask for 2 academic/teacher references. Therefore, you'd have to find a professor, rather than a work/volunteer supervisor. You'll want to follow these instructions if they do indicate.